Monday, October 14, 2013

Homemade, Simple Baby Wipe Solution



Throughout Tool Lady's pregnancy, we talked about all of the things we wanted to do for Sprout, for health reasons, environmental reasons and for economical reasons.  We talked about making our own wipe solution and cloth wipes, using cloth diapers and, in the future, making our own baby food (preferably from our own garden), to name just a few of our ideas.

While baby food is a ways off, making our own wipe solution for Sprout has been one of the easiest and best DIYs we've done!  I have to say, too, I feel so much better knowing that we're not putting a bunch of chemicals and ingredients I can't even pronounce on her brand new skin!


Ingredients:
We simply store our solution in a wide mouth pint sized mason jar so it can easily be carried where ever we need it because, you know, babies aren't always changed in the exact same spot every time, even when you have an official changing table.


What are the ingredients in our homemade wipe solution?

Water, Organic Coconut Oil, Potassium Hydroxide, Organic Olive Oil, Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Citric Acid, Tocopherol

Burts Bees Baby Bee Nourishing Baby Oil
prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil, vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil, tritium vulgare (wheat) germ oil, tocopheryl acetate, fragrance, tocopherol, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, glycine soja (soybean) oil, canola oil

Tea Tree Essential Oil - 100%
Benefits - Kills bacteria and fungus, and reduces allergic skin reactions.

Benefits - Moisturizer (especially helpful in the high desert).  In addition to adding it to the wipe solution, we have also used olive oil as a direct moisturizer on Sprout since her skin is still adapting to the outside world and is quite dry.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

And what are those chemicals and ingredients mentioned above that I can't even pronounce?

Pamper's Clean N Go Wipes:
Fragrance(s)/perfume(s), Bis-PEG/PPG-16/16 PEG/PPG- 16/16 Dimethicone, Citric acid, Benzyl alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Water, Xanthan gum, Caprylic/Capric triglyceride, 3-Iodo-2-propynylbutylcarbamate, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate

And according to the US Department of Health & Human Services, even the "sensitive" wipes can be quite intense (and not much different than the wipes above)!

Pamper's Sensitive Wipes:
Matricaria (chamomilla recutita) extract, Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice, Bis-PEG/PPG-16/16 PEG/PPG- 16/16 Dimethicone, Citric acid, Benzyl alcohol, Disodium EDTA, Bisabolol, Sodium phosphate, Water, Xanthan gum, Caprylic/Capric triglyceride, 3-Iodo-2-propynylbutylcarbamate, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate


Now, we do the best we can with what we have, and while I would love to be feel like we could afford to purchase everything in its organic form, we simply cannot.  However, as long as I have a choice, I will keep Sprout away from as many chemicals as I can for as long as I can.  I mean, really, look at that tender, new skin!

xoxo,
M

Linking up to the Homestead Barn Hop #133

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5 comments:

  1. I used cloth diapers and used homemade diaper wipes. I agree, it is easy and economical. I used old flannel sheets and cut them into squares. Just threw them in with the cloth diapers to be washed.

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  2. I use cloth diapers and have always used homemade wipes. They are so affordable and so much healthier for your child and the environment.

    I see this liquid Castille soap on all the blogs but I've never seen it here in Canada.

    Thanks for sharing your recipe.
    xoxo

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  3. Just starting to look into this... Do you just dip the wipes in the solution as you use?

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    Replies
    1. HI Stacy! I will do a follow up post shortly but here's the quick answer...to start, we did just dip the wipes into the solution, but then we had to squeeze the excess solution out of the wipe. Now we're playing with filling the container up about half way with the solution and putting the wipes in until all the excess solution is soaked up. It makes for a much easier (and less messy) diaper changing experience ;-)

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  4. I used cloth diapers, but never did use cloth wipes. I don't know why it never occurred to me. Tea tree oil and lavender oil are so wonderful! Thanks for sharing with us at The HomeAcre Harvest Hop!

    Please join us again Thursday for our special harvest themed hop at:
    http://summersacres.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-homeacre-harvest-hop_31.html
    ~Ann

    ReplyDelete

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